Rendell: Reform bill could stand to be 'tweaked'

POCONO PINES — Gov. Ed Rendell supports redistricting reform but has some concerns about a bill in the state House that would change the way state legislative boundaries are redrawn every 10 years.

DAVID PIERCE

POCONO PINES — Gov. Ed Rendell supports redistricting reform but has some concerns about a bill in the state House that would change the way state legislative boundaries are redrawn every 10 years.

House Bill 2420 would amend the Pennsylvania Constitution by placing decisions for state Senate and House legislative boundaries in the hands of a nonpartisan agency. Currently, a few political leaders from the two major parties negotiate how those boundaries are drawn.

Critics say politicization of the redistricting process is the major reason Monroe County was carved into portions of six separate Senate districts after the 2000 population census. The majority of voters in all six Senate districts reside outside Monroe County.

"I'm for anything that would change the system," Rendell said last week after attending a forum at Pocono Mountain West High School on state education funding. "But I'd tweak that bill."

Rendell didn't say what aspect of the bill he wants to tweak.

During the education forum, Rendell expressed surprise when told Monroe County is divided into six Senate and four House districts.

"That is obviously reapportionment at its worst," Rendell said.

It is unclear why the decision was made in 2001 to deny creation of a Senate district based in Monroe County, despite the Census showing Monroe had the second fastest growth rate in the state during 1990s. Monroe's current population is estimated at 165,000.

One official says privately that an incumbent senator was offered the entire county as part of his district, but rejected the idea. Another official contends that state Democratic leaders didn't want to transfer a predominantly Democratic Senate seat based in Allegheny County to Monroe County — where it is considerably more difficult to gauge voters' party allegiances.

Senate and House districts are supposed to have roughly the same populations of other House and Senate seats. Leaders of the major parties usually draw boundaries that maximize incumbents' chances for re-election.